Utley v. St. Petersburg, 292 U.S. 106 (1934)

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Utley v. St. Petersburg

No. 627

Argued March 12, 1934
Decided April 2, 1934
292 U.S. 106

APPEAL FROM THE SUPREME COURT OF FLORIDA

Syllabus

1. A lot owner has no constitutional privilege to be heard in opposition to the adoption of a project of street improvement which may end in an assessment of his lot. It is enough that a hearing is permitted before the imposition of the assessment as a charge upon the land, or in proceedings for collection afterwards. P. 109.

2. Objection that a special assessment was laid in an arbitrary manner will not be heard when an administrative remedy for correction of defects or inequalities was given by state statute and ignored by the objector. P. 109.

3. Upon appeal from a judgment of a state court sustaining a special assessment in a suit to set it aside as arbitrary, the contention that statutory means provided for correcting such assessments were unavailable because in conflict with the state constitution is concluded by the judgment if the point was made or passed upon below, and if not raised in the suit or the tax proceedings, it was waived. P. 110.

4. A general tax to make up a deficiency in a fund raised by special assessments of abutting land to pay special improvement bonds, is not invalid under the Fourteenth Amendment because the bonds were issued without notice to taxpayers. P. 111.

5. An appeal from a state court must be dismissed for want of jurisdiction if no substantial federal question is presented and the judgment rests upon an independent basis of state law adequate to support it -- in this case, laches and estoppel. P. 111.

Appeal from 111 Fla. 844, 149 So. 806, dismissed.

Appeal from the affirmance of a decree dismissing a suit to set aside a special assessment and the lien of a general tax.